Travel Blog

Airports
Passengers in a pod
One of the most vexing challenges for business travelers is all the waiting and schlepping at the airport. Martin Lowson, chief executive officer of Advance Transport Systems Limited, in Bristol, England, may have developed a transportation system that will make getting from your parked car to the terminal quicker, smoother and, quite frankly, more fun: the ULTRa, a four-passenger, single-car “automatic taxi.” The not-yet-named driverless vehicle, which has been dubbed a “pod,” resembles a miniature monorail and would run on a network of tracks between parking areas and various terminals. So, instead of waiting for one of those infernal intra-airport bus services, passengers would catch an ULTRa at the parking area and take a direct “ride” to their terminal. “Getting around the airport is one of the most inefficient parts of your journey,” says Lowson. “If you can improve that, it’s a better journey for everyone.” Read the rest of this entry »

The first thing to do is forget the myth that Toronto shuts after 6pm and all-day on Sunday. This is a city that buzzes.

The CN Tower is every visitor’s first port of call, at 1,815 feet nobody has ever built anything taller. The view is, of course, amazing. Test your nerve by walking across the glass floor over 1100 feet above the ground. Then travel another 343 feet up to the Sky Pod, preferably as the sun sets. Further down there are rides, a marketplace, cafж and an award-winning restaurant, more of which later.

Cruises in the harbor offer completely the opposite perspective of Toronto’s stunning skyline. Head down to the Harbor front and you’ll find a stunning selection of vessels offering trips on anything from cruisers to a Mississippi paddleboat and the latest attraction, the tall ship Kajama. The restored 165 foot, three-masted schooner plied the waters of Europe from Russia to northern Africa for more than 60 years, now it tours the harbor. Read the rest of this entry »

Donegal Square is Belfast cities central point. Remember to get cheap flights to Belfast for your trip. The city can be walked on foot, it would take about an hour to do this, and thats a great thing from the tourist’s point of view. You can check the availability of cheap flights to Belfast via our flight links.

Belfast has a huge port and the Titanic was built here, and it now has the world’s largest dry dock. We provide information from many budget Belfast Flights. This city has some magnificent architecture especially from the Victorian and Edwardian period. You can also find cheap flights from Belfast to Europe and worldwide destinations. City Hall is a proud building that stands in the main shopping area of Belfast. The majestic Belfast Castle is open to the public and well worth a visit. Read the rest of this entry »

Nowadays Seattle is a very popular destination, because it hosts different festivals all throughout the year. Car travel will be among the preferred ways of traveling to Seattle. Car travel has various advantages, however some car problems may occur, and you will need auto repair in Seattle. Undoubtedly, in Seattle it is not difficult to find a first-rate auto service.

One of the most typical services while travelling is repair or replacement of windshield. Down the page you will come across a few useful tips on safety precautions for broken windshield before you reach Seattle’s car service center. First of all keep in mind that in many instances broken car windshield may be repaired devoid of replacing of the entire windshield glass. But it is a wrong opinion that windshield’s damaged spot will vanish completely. Also don’t forget that damages on windshield ought to be eliminated at the very first opportunity, since damaged spot may spread, and you will have to pay more for repair or even replace the whole windshield. Read the rest of this entry »

The man on the cover of LP Egypt spotted our LP guide when we visited Karnak Temple and, having established himself as the cover model, proceeded to give us his own special blessing. Needless to say it was accompanied by a request for a tip – but E£2 seemed to leave him a happy man.

Street vendors often quote prices in Pounds without saying whether they are talking about Egyptian Pounds or Pounds Sterling. A favourite scan when you try to buy is for the vendor to say he had been quoting “Nubian Pounds” which are the equivalent of E£20. Of course there is no such thing as a Nubian Pound

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I had my hand tattooed with henna in a Nubian village on the west side of the Nile from Aswan for EP 10, although asking around afterward indicated that a more usual price for foreigners was E 30. The experience was the high point of my trip. The whole thing took about 3 hours. The process involved a group of four to six Nubian women and children, included tea and dancing together.

The henna tatoo process was painless, and they told me it would last about 45 days. There was a little discussion about the design – I approved a pattern sketched by the artist on paper. First the artist put a paste of henna and water into a small plastic bag, cut off the corner, and proceeded to squirt the design onto my hand rather like cake decorating. The paste was allowed to dry in place – this took about 20 minutes, mostly spent sitting in the sun on the front porch of the house. When dry, the paste was flaked off and the hand washed. The oxygen was daubed on to the design. The tattoo at this point was a pale reddish brown design. Then we went into a room in the house where a brazier had been burning with sandalwood chips placed on it to create a lot of smoke. A cassette of Nubian music was played and we all danced while the tattoos cured. The tattoo, when smoked, became a deep black colour.

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Marsa Matruh is a charming sea town on the way to Siwa Oasis. There are hardly any travellers so it is a great escape from the souvenir markets and accompanying hassle found in the more popular locations. The sea is a glorious light blue and by swimming at the (free) Hotel Beau site stretch of beach, you can avoid the hassle my girlfriend has swimming (fully clothed) at public areas. Trips to Agiba and Cleopatra beaches are well worth the trip (LE 2 in service pickup) though you are not permitted to swim at these places.

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Tourists travelling over a longer distance by car will probably find themselves in a convoy. This means all tourist buses and taxis have to travel together escorted by police cars, so police can see to their safety (and get money for it from the government). If there is not a fixed convoy to where you’re going, the police set up an ad hoc one: they’ll have one or more police cars precede your vehicle(s), preferably with flashing lights and blaring sirens.

For instance, travelling from Dakhla Oasis to Cairo, the police esocrted us from Asyut to Beni Suef. (it”s like driving around with a sign on your head saying “terrorists please don’t shoot HERE”, one feels so at ease). There are fixed convoys between Aswan and Luxor, Luxor and Hurghada, and Hurghada and Suez. I believe there is a fixed convoy between Cairo and Alexandria, and there used to be one from Aswan to abu Simble and back.

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Bus number 356 is a new and comfortable way to get to the centre of Cairo from the airport. It only costs 50 pst and is well worth that for air con, comfortable seats and lots of room.

The bus station behind the Luxor Temple no longer exists; the Upper Egypt Bus Co has a terminal and ticket office on Shavia Television virtually next door to the Saint Maria Hotel.

The bus station behind the Luxor museum (no 7) only has microbuses which since the “accident” are no longer allowed to take tourists. If you’re going south you have to be on a bus as part of a convoy or as we did, in a shared private hire service taxi with armed escort all the way to Aswan – EP60 for five of us.

There is no such thing as a “tourist ferry’ anymore. You can either take one of the many Felucca and Touts over or take the public ferry. Feluccas are charging from EP1-00 per person upwards, the same as the public ferry, more convenience but also more hassle on the human side.

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Two friends and I contacted some settlers in Gush Qatif in Gaza to visit for the weekend. We had spoken to them many times on the phone and arranged everything so it would run as smoothly as possible. At 12:45pm we left on the bus from Beer Sheva to Ashqelon and to catch the last bus, 036, leaving at 2:00pm too Gush Qatif. On the way I asked the driver when our bus was supposed to arrive to Ashqelon and he told us 2:10, 10 minutes after our bus to Gush Qatif was supposed to leave. So thinking quick we got off the bus in Sederot and caught a cab to Ashqelon (though we could of caught a bus there to Gush we only found out later). In the cab we told him our situation and he speed us to the bus station just making it in time before the bus left. Read the rest of this entry »